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May
Don’t get caught flat-footed in front of the press! Below is a quick rundown of today’s “must reads.” – John T. Doolittle, House Republican Conference Secretary
The Morning Murmur – Thursday, May 25, 2006
1. Hastert not being investigated, U.S. says – Chicago Tribune
In an unusually swift and blunt response to a news report, the Justice
Department on Wednesday issued a statement denying an ABC News story that
House Speaker Dennis Hastert was under investigation in the Abramoff
lobbying scandal.
2. GOP gets Alien-ated from Prez – New York Post Op-ed
It’s a good bet now that there won't be any law to legalize illegal aliens -
at least before next fall's election. House Republicans are dead-set against
legalization, convinced that backing Bush's plan would so infuriate
conservatives that they'd sit out the election and let Democrats win control
of Congress.
3. Why Don't Liberals Sacrifice for the War? – Human Events
From the outset of our War on Terror, liberal spokesmen have claimed that this
war is not a "real" war since we Americans have not had to make sacrifices
that were made during wars such as World War II. Unfortunately, liberals are
not willing to make sacrifices if they involve the "environment" and full
citizen-rights for even Afghan terrorists.
4. The Luxury of Labor – Wall Street Journal
In France, it takes lots of work merely to be allowed to work. Just ask
Louis Vuitton.
5. Rockin’ the Right – National Review
As you prepare music for
your Memorial Day barbeques, consider this list of the top fifty
conservative rock songs of all time. It’s a pretty cool playlist for your
i-Pod.
For previous issues of the Morning Murmur, go to www.GOPsecretary.gov
FULL ARTICLES BELOW:
1. Hastert not being investigated,
U.S. says – Chicago Tribune
Response to news report is unusual
By Andrew Zajac and Mike Dorning,
Published May 25, 2006
WASHINGTON -- In an unusually swift and blunt response to a news report, the
Justice Department on Wednesday issued a statement denying an ABC News story
that House Speaker Dennis Hastert was under investigation in the
far-reaching Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
It reiterated its denial early Thursday in response to further reports by
ABC.
"Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department," said
Brian Roehrkasse, a department spokesman, less than an hour after ABC,
citing "high-level Justice Department sources," reported that Hastert "is
under investigation by the FBI" in connection with the Abramoff scandal.
Roehrkasse acknowledged that the Justice Department generally neither
confirms nor denies news reports asserting the existence of an investigation
but said that the department was moved to respond because of "unique
circumstances."
He declined to elaborate. But the ABC report came hours after Hastert
(R-Ill.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in a rare moment
of bipartisan unity in a bitterly divided Congress, demanded that the FBI
surrender documents it seized during an unprecedented weekend raid on the
office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.).
As he left the House floor after an evening vote, Hastert said there is
"absolutely" no truth to the ABC report.
Asked whether he thought the timing of the leaked allegations of an
investigation is tied to his complaints about the weekend raid, Hastert
replied, "You draw your own conclusions."
A high-level Hastert aide said in reference to the Justice Department: "They
took an unprecedented and unconstitutional action on Saturday night. We
called them on it. Now you have this leak--obviously intended to cause
harm."
The aide added, "Somebody decided to do a little retaliatory shot here."
Ron Bonjean, a Hastert spokesman, said the speaker was demanding a full
retraction of the ABC story.
Late Wednesday, ABC stood by its story, saying federal law-enforcement
sources said the network accurately reported that Hastert is "in the mix" in
the FBI investigation.
The Justice Department issued a new denial in response. "I reconfirm, as
stated by the Department earlier this evening, that these reports are
untrue," Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul McNulty said in a statement issued early
Thursday.
The specter of corruption has already framed the midterm congressional
elections. The ongoing Abramoff inquiry has toppled former House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and implicated other members.
Another ongoing probe has led to the resignation and conviction of former
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).
Democrats have been seeking to brand Republicans for leading a "culture of
corruption," but the bribery probe of Jefferson complicated those plans.
Only minutes after the report on "World News Tonight" ended Wednesday, the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee blasted out an e-mail to
reporters: "Hastert Now Included in Abramoff Investigation. More info to
come."
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the chairman of the committee tasked with
winning back the House, offered no comment.
Earlier Wednesday, Hastert and Pelosi issued a joint statement demanding
that the FBI return documents taken in a weekend raid of Jefferson's office.
They said federal agents overstepped their constitutional bounds by
conducting the Capitol Hill search of the Louisiana lawmaker's official
congressional office.
"The Justice Department must immediately return the papers it
unconstitutionally seized," the leaders said.
Jefferson, who for months has been embroiled in a bribery investigation, has
denied wrongdoing. He has not offered an explanation for why $90,000 in
marked bills was found in his freezer and he has rebuffed requests by
Democratic leaders to step down.
While neither Hastert nor Pelosi came to the aid of Jefferson, their
forceful objections were rooted in the separation of powers that they said
are clearly outlined in the Constitution.
Meanwhile, House officials were drafting a joint resolution denouncing the
raid. Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said he
would hold a hearing next week called "Reckless Justice."
The Justice Department defended its actions. "We believe our actions were
lawful and necessary," McNulty said Wednesday.
The core of ABC's report on Hastert concerned a letter he wrote in June 2003
urging the Interior Department to block an Indian casino opposed by tribes
represented by Abramoff.
Hastert's letter was written one week after Abramoff hosted a fundraiser for
the speaker's political action committee.
Both the existence of the letter and timing of the fundraiser were first
reported by The Associated Press last November.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0605250189may25,1,2965179.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
2. GOP gets Alien-ated from Prez – New
York Post Op-ed
By DEBORAH ORIN
It’s a good bet now that there won't be any law to legalize illegal aliens -
at least before next fall's election.
As many Republicans see it, President Bush is trying to ram a Democratic
amnesty bill down their throats - a bill that would amount to political
suicide for them.
House Republicans are dead-set against legalization, convinced that backing
Bush's plan would so infuriate conservatives that they'd sit out the
election and let Democrats win control of Congress.
The Senate can't pass the bill alone, so as long as the House holds firm,
any compromise bill won't include legalization. Bush aides have pleaded to
Congress to show he's still relevant by passing the bill - but they're not
finding agreement.
Bush guru Karl Rove got an earful when he tried to persuade House
Republicans yesterday - 19 of the 20 who spoke out said no way to
legalization and some voiced resentment at White House pressure.
"It was a very cool reception. No matter what the president and the Senate
call it, people see it as amnesty," said House Homeland Security chairman
Peter King (R-L.I.)
"There was some concern about the White House laying out a false choice
between amnesty and mass deportation. Nobody is calling for mass
deportations - and the White House should know that."
The White House claims voters want to get "something" done. House
Republicans like King say their voters, by a 99-1 margin, would rather see
nothing than allow an amnesty.
Besides, the House Republicans will be led by a very tough negotiator in
talks with the Senate to try to reach a compromise deal - House Judiciary
chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.)
A tenacious, even truculent negotiator - he was a House impeachment manager
against Bill Clinton - Sensenbrenner has made it very clear publicly that
he's not buying the Bush line.
But what's been less noticed is that in the Senate, a huge majority of the
Republicans up for re-election this fall - and some Democrats in Republican
states - also oppose legalization. In a test vote on legalization this week,
only 18 of the 55 Republican senators voted in favor.
Of the 15 Republicans up for re-election, only four supported legalization.
That's why the White House is lobbying to try to get a majority of Senate
Republicans to back the overall immigration bill on final passage -
otherwise, it will clearly be labeled a Democratic bill.
Recalcitrant Republicans say they're sure the pro-immigrant Bush believes
he's doing the right thing, same as on Iraq. But they're no longer willing
to follow his lead.
http://www.nypost.com/commentary/66550.htm
3. Why Don't Liberals Sacrifice for the
War? – Human Events
by Rabbi Aryeh Spero
Posted May 24, 2006
From the outset of our War on Terror, liberal spokesmen have claimed that
this war is not a "real" war since we Americans have not had to make
sacrifices that were made during wars such as World War II. Well, I have two
suggestions for sacrifice.
First: Agree to oil drilling in Alaska so that our money will no longer be
given to Islamic oil producing countries that are supporting terrorists and
making nuclear bombs they boast will be used against us.
Second: Quit demanding those ersatz "civil liberties" that stop our
government's ability to listen in on telephone calls from al Qaeda to
sleeper cells located here planning our destruction.
For me, the above would not constitute sacrifice since I believe that
terrorists have no U.S. civil rights, and in time of war, we must spy on the
enemy. But for liberals, this would be a great sacrifice on their behalf for
the war effort.
For me, the aforementioned would not constitute sacrifice since I believe
that even during peace- time we should drill in U.S. regions with abundant
oil. After all, that's why God put it there -- to be used. Oil is not there
for beauty's sake. But for liberals, it would constitute a sacrifice helpful
to the war effort.
I'm sure that even the caribou would be willing to make the sacrifice of
moving a tad down the road to make way for the pipeline.
But liberals will not desist from their gods, even in face of war. The
"environment" and full citizen- rights for even Afghan terrorists are not to
be compromised. Political positions can't be sacrificed, for they are what
makes a left liberal a liberal. Without these beliefs, liberals would loose
their sense of self. It is their very personhood.
I know of the true sacrifices of young American soldiers around the world
fighting jihadism and that of senior officers and their families. I'll bet
that hardly any of those serving are left wing ideologues.
Not to mention the excruciating sacrifice all of us daily make when
listening to the never ending rants and carping against America on radio and
TV by liberals who seem unable to shut up. Talk about noise pollution!
When liberals talk of "sacrifice" what they mean is what they always mean
and want -- all the time: Higher taxes. Redistribution of wealth. It's all a
ruse, just another way to coerce the American people to institute left wing
policies. So don't be snookered.
In typical liberal fashion, liberals are always out front moralizing to us
"un-annointed" plebeians about the sacrifices we must make for the "common
good" of which they are always exempt. Our children must be bused, while
their children go to toney private schools. Our values must be sacrificed so
as to institute their vision of how society should look and behave.
We, the United States, must "understand" terrorists and criminals, and the
average Joe should have his money, that which he earned, redistributed to
those constituencies liberals feel are worthy of the fruits of his hard
work. Your money is not to be spent by you directly for your children but to
causes liberals deem more important.
Islamic demonstrators holding up posters here and in Europe calling for
Death to Westerners and announcing a soon-to-come Holocaust against
Christians and Jews are defended as Free Speechers, and woe to the
"unenlightened" among us who finds unacceptable such public calls for our
death by the newly arrived living in our countries. But speech decrying gay
marriage or warning of Islamic imperialism is labeled hate speech and
"dangerous" to society.
The "common good" of which they now speak, their latest political buzz
phrase, is not about doing what is necessary physically to protect the
American people from jihadist threats, rather a phony, high sounding ideal
for renewed social engineering, i.e., taking away your liberties and
religious beliefs, unless Islamic ones. For the "religion of peace," we must
show, they tell us, the utmost respect. Witness the reverence with which
they've greeted the Iranian letter to President Bush teaching us what Jesus
would have done and that now is the time for all in the world to ready
themselves for the return of "the Muslim Prophet."
The left never changes its goal, and no matter how much we surrender, they
will not be satisfied short of a European socialism, with themselves filling
the top posts.
Every new situation is fodder for simply sneaking in their agenda. It will
always be so, for they do not like the America we love. In fact, truth be
told, they don't like our values. Worse, they don't like us. Perhaps that's
why they don't sacrifice for us.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15035
4. The Luxury of Labor – Wall Street
Journal
May 25, 2006
In France, it takes lots of work merely to be allowed to work. Just ask
Louis Vuitton.
The iconic luxury goods maker recently hired 70-odd new employees so that
starting last month it could keep its flagship store on Paris's Champs
Elysées open on Sundays. You'd think a country with 10% unemployment, and
more than double that in the immigrant projects that went up in flames last
fall, would be thrilled to see a private company create new jobs. You'd be
wrong.
The problem is that French labor laws put strict restrictions on Sunday
operations. Though the churches are mostly empty and France is a "secular"
republic, the Sabbath is sacred.
To survive in this market, one needs to be creative. Louis Vuitton found a
loophole in the rules, or so it thought. The city of Paris makes exceptions
to the no-work-on-Sunday rules for restaurants, tobacco shops,
owner-operated stores and -- eureka! -- museums. So Louis Vuitton built a
"cultural space" on the top floor devoted to company history and art
exhibitions, winning permission to stay open. Each Sunday, some 6,000 or so
visitors who stop by to look at chic handbags can also check out a few
objets d'art.
France's trade unions won't have any of it. The French Confederation of
Christian Workers, a union that doesn't actually have any members employed
at the store, has sued parent company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton to
force it to close on Sundays. The union says the handbag purveyor is
breaking the law -- and setting a worrying precedent -- with a "fake" museum
designed to circumvent rules protecting workers.
Louis Vuitton can probably expect no help from enfeebled Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin. His plan to loosen up labor laws for the young
earlier this year was yanked after street protests. But France's six or so
million Muslims, disproportionately represented among the 10% without jobs,
might be just the constituency to push for saner work rules. Sunday is not a
Muslim day of rest.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB114850447676462283.html
5. Rockin’ the Right – National Review
JOHN J. MILLER
On first glance, rock ’n’ roll music isn’t very conservative. It doesn’t
fare much better on second or third glance (or listen), either. Neil Young
has a new song called “Let’s Impeach the President.” Last year, the Rolling
Stones made news with “Sweet Neo Con,” another anti-Bush ditty. For
conservatives who enjoy rock, it isn’t hard to agree with the opinion Johnny
Cash expressed in “The One on the Right Is on the Left”: “Don’t go mixin’
politics with the folk songs of our land / Just work on harmony and diction
/ Play your banjo well / And if you have political convictions, keep them to
yourself.” In other words: Shut up and sing.
But some rock songs really are conservative — and there are more of them
than you might think. Last year, I asked readers of National Review Online
to nominate conservative rock songs. Hundreds of suggestions poured in. I’ve
sifted through them all, downloaded scores of mp3s, and puzzled over a lot
of lyrics. What follows is a list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs
of all time, as determined by me and a few others. The result is of course
arbitrary, though we did apply a handful of criteria.
What makes a great conservative rock song? The lyrics must convey a
conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or support
for traditional values. And, to be sure, it must be a great rock song. We’re
biased in favor of songs that are already popular, but have tossed in a few
little-known gems. In several cases, the musicians are outspoken liberals.
Others are notorious libertines. For the purposes of this list, however, we
don’t hold any of this against them. Finally, it would have been easy to
include half a dozen songs by both the Kinks and Rush, but we’ve made an
effort to cast a wide net. Who ever said diversity isn’t a conservative
principle?
So here are NR’s top 50 conservative rock songs of all time. Go ahead and
quibble with the rankings, complain about what we put on, and send us
outraged letters and e-mails about what we left off. In the end, though, we
hope you’ll admit that it’s a pretty cool playlist for your iPod.
1. “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” by The Who.
The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this
could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naпve idealism once and
for all. “There’s nothing in the streets / Looks any different to me / And
the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye. . . . Meet the new boss / Same as the
old boss.” The instantly recognizable synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend’s
ringing guitar, Keith Moon’s pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey’s wailing
vocals make this one of the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded — the
best number by a big band, and a classic for conservatives.
2. “Taxman,” by The Beatles.
A George Harrison masterpiece with a famous guitar riff (which was actually
played by Paul McCartney): “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street / If you
try to sit, I’ll tax your seat / If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat / If
you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.” The song closes with a humorous jab at
death taxes: “Now my advice for those who die / Declare the pennies on your
eyes.”
3. “Sympathy for the Devil,” by The Rolling Stones.
Don’t be misled by the title; this song is The Screwtape Letters of rock.
The devil is a tempter who leans hard on moral relativism — he will try to
make you think that “every cop is a criminal / And all the sinners saints.”
What’s more, he is the sinister inspiration for the cruelties of Bolshevism:
“I stuck around St. Petersburg / When I saw it was a time for a change /
Killed the czar and his ministers / Anastasia screamed in vain.”
4. “Sweet Home Alabama,” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
A tribute to the region of America that liberals love to loathe, taking a
shot at Neil Young’s Canadian arrogance along the way: “A Southern man don’t
need him around anyhow.”
5. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” by The Beach Boys.
Pro-abstinence and pro-marriage: “Maybe if we think and wish and hope and
pray it might come true / Baby then there wouldn’t be a single thing we
couldn’t do / We could be married / And then we’d be happy.”
6. “Gloria,” by U2.
Just because a rock song is about faith doesn’t mean that it’s conservative.
But what about a rock song that’s about faith and whose chorus is in Latin?
That’s beautifully reactionary: “Gloria / In te domine / Gloria / Exultate.”
7. “Revolution,” by The Beatles.
“You say you want a revolution / Well you know / We all want to change the
world . . . Don’t you know you can count me out?” What’s more, Communism
isn’t even cool: “If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao / You ain’t
going to make it with anyone anyhow.” (Someone tell the Che Guevara crowd.)
8. “Bodies,” by The Sex Pistols.
Violent and vulgar, but also a searing anti-abortion anthem by the
quintessential punk band: “It’s not an animal / It’s an abortion.”
9. “Don’t Tread on Me,” by Metallica.
A head-banging tribute to the doctrine of peace through strength, written in
response to the first Gulf War: “So be it / Threaten no more / To secure
peace is to prepare for war.”
10. “20th Century Man,” by The Kinks.
“You keep all your smart modern writers / Give me William Shakespeare / You
keep all your smart modern painters / I’ll take Rembrandt, Titian, da Vinci,
and Gainsborough. . . . I was born in a welfare state / Ruled by bureaucracy
/ Controlled by civil servants / And people dressed in grey / Got no privacy
got no liberty / ’Cause the 20th-century people / Took it all away from me.”
11. “The Trees,” by Rush.
Before there was Rush Limbaugh, there was Rush, a Canadian band whose lyrics
are often libertarian. What happens in a forest when equal rights become
equal outcomes? “The trees are all kept equal / By hatchet, axe, and saw.”
12. “Neighborhood Bully,” by Bob Dylan.
A pro-Israel song released in 1983, two years after the bombing of Iraq’s
nuclear reactor, this ironic number could be a theme song for the Bush
Doctrine: “He destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad / The bombs were
meant for him / He was supposed to feel bad / He’s the neighborhood bully.”
13. “My City Was Gone,” by The Pretenders.
Virtually every conservative knows the bass line, which supplies the theme
music for Limbaugh’s radio show. But the lyrics also display a Jane Jacobs
sensibility against central planning and a conservative’s dissatisfaction
with rapid change: “I went back to Ohio / But my pretty countryside / Had
been paved down the middle / By a government that had no pride.”
14. “Right Here, Right Now,” by Jesus Jones.
The words are vague, but they’re also about the fall of Communism and the
end of the Cold War: “I was alive and I waited for this. . . . Watching the
world wake up from history.”
15. “I Fought the Law,” by The Crickets.
The original law-and-order classic, made famous in 1965 by The Bobby Fuller
Four and covered by just about everyone since then.
16. “Get Over It,” by The Eagles.
Against the culture of grievance: “The big, bad world doesn’t owe you a
thing.” There’s also this nice line: “I’d like to find your inner child and
kick its little ass.”
17. “Stay Together for the Kids,” by Blink 182.
A eulogy for family values by an alt-rock band whose members were raised in
a generation without enough of them: “So here’s your holiday / Hope you
enjoy it this time / You gave it all away. . . . It’s not right.”
18. “Cult of Personality,” by Living Colour.
A hard-rocking critique of state power, whacking Mussolini, Stalin, and even
JFK: “I exploit you, still you love me / I tell you one and one makes three
/ I’m the cult of personality.”
19. “Kicks,” by Paul Revere and the Raiders.
An anti-drug song that is also anti-utopian: “Well, you think you’re gonna
find yourself a little piece of paradise / But it ain’t happened yet, so
girl you better think twice.”
20. “Rock the Casbah,” by The Clash.
After 9/11, American radio stations were urged not to play this 1982 song,
one of the biggest hits by a seminal punk band, because it was seen as too
provocative. Meanwhile, British Forces Broadcasting Service (the radio
station for British troops serving in Iraq) has said that this is one of its
most requested tunes.
21. “Heroes,” by David Bowie.
A Cold War love song about a man and a woman divided by the Berlin Wall. No
moral equivalence here: “I can remember / Standing / By the wall / And the
guns / Shot above our heads / And we kissed / As though nothing could fall /
And the shame / Was on the other side / Oh we can beat them / For ever and
ever.”
22. “Red Barchetta,” by Rush.
In a time of “the Motor Law,” presumably legislated by green extremists, the
singer describes family reunion and the thrill of driving a fast car — an
act that is his “weekly crime.”
23. “Brick,” by Ben Folds Five.
Written from the perspective of a man who takes his young girlfriend to an
abortion clinic, this song describes the emotional scars of “reproductive
freedom”: “Now she’s feeling more alone / Than she ever has before. . . . As
weeks went by / It showed that she was not fine.”
24. “Der Kommissar,” by After the Fire.
On the misery of East German life: “Don’t turn around, uh-oh / Der
Kommissar’s in town, uh-oh / He’s got the power / And you’re so weak / And
your frustration / Will not let you speak.” Also a hit song for Falco, who
wrote it.
25. “The Battle of Evermore,” by Led Zeppelin.
The lyrics are straight out of Robert Plant’s Middle Earth period — there
are lines about “ring wraiths” and “magic runes” — but for a song released
in 1971, it’s hard to miss the Cold War metaphor: “The tyrant’s face is
red.”
26. “Capitalism,” by Oingo Boingo.
“There’s nothing wrong with Capitalism / There’s nothing wrong with free
enterprise. . . . You’re just a middle class, socialist brat / From a
suburban family and you never really had to work.”
27. “Obvious Song,” by Joe Jackson.
For property rights and economic development, and against liberal hypocrisy:
“There was a man in the jungle / Trying to make ends meet / Found himself
one day with an axe in his hand / When a voice said ‘Buddy can you spare
that tree / We gotta save the world — starting with your land’ / It was a
rock ’n’ roll millionaire from the USA / Doing three to the gallon in a big
white car / And he sang and he sang ’til he polluted the air / And he blew a
lot of smoke from a Cuban cigar.”
28. “Janie’s Got a Gun,” by Aerosmith.
How the right to bear arms can protect women from sexual predators: “What
did her daddy do? / It’s Janie’s last I.O.U. / She had to take him down easy
/ And put a bullet in his brain / She said ’cause nobody believes me / The
man was such a sleaze / He ain’t never gonna be the same.”
29. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Iron Maiden.
A heavy-metal classic inspired by a literary classic. How many other rock
songs quote directly from Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
30. “You Can’t Be Too Strong,” by Graham Parker.
Although it’s not explicitly pro-life, this tune describes the horror of
abortion with bracing honesty: “Did they tear it out with talons of steel,
and give you a shot so that you wouldn’t feel?”
31. “Small Town,” by John Mellencamp.
A Burkean rocker: “No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from / I
cannot forget the people who love me.”
32. “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” by The Georgia Satellites.
An outstanding vocal performance, with lyrics that affirm old-time sexual
mores: “She said no huggy, no kissy until I get a wedding vow.”
33. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by The Rolling Stones.
You can “[go] down to the demonstration” and vent your frustration, but you
must understand that there’s no such thing as a perfect society — there are
merely decent and free ones.
34. “Godzilla,” by Blue цyster Cult.
A 1977 classic about a big green monster — and more: “History shows again
and again / How nature points up the folly of men.”
35. “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Written as an anti–Vietnam War song, this tune nevertheless is pessimistic
about activism and takes a dim view of both Communism and liberalism:
“Five-year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains . . .”
36. “Government Cheese,” by The Rainmakers.
A protest song against the welfare state by a Kansas City band that deserved
more success than it got. The first line: “Give a man a free house and he’ll
bust out the windows.”
37. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” by The Band.
Despite its sins, the American South always has been about more than racism
— this song captures its pride and tradition.
38. “I Can’t Drive 55,” by Sammy Hagar.
A rocker’s objection to the nanny state. (See also Hagar’s pro-America song
“VOA.”)
39. “Property Line,” by The Marshall Tucker Band.
The secret to happiness, according to these southern-rock heavyweights, is
life, liberty, and property: “Well my idea of a good time / Is walkin’ my
property line / And knowin’ the mud on my boots is mine.”
40. “Wake Up Little Susie,” by The Everly Brothers.
A smash hit in 1957, back when high-school social pressures were rather
different from what they have become: “We fell asleep, our goose is cooked,
our reputation is shot.”
41. “The Icicle Melts,” by The Cranberries.
A pro-life tune sung by Irish warbler Dolores O’Riordan: “I don’t know
what’s happening to people today / When a child, he was taken away . . .
’Cause nine months is too long.”
42. “Everybody’s a Victim,” by The Proclaimers.
Best known for their smash hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” this Scottish
band also recorded a catchy song about the problem of suspending moral
judgment: “It doesn’t matter what I do / You have to say it’s all right . .
. Everybody’s a victim / We’re becoming like the USA.”
43. “Wonderful,” by Everclear.
A child’s take on divorce: “I don’t wanna hear you say / That I will
understand someday / No, no, no, no / I don’t wanna hear you say / You both
have grown in a different way / No, no, no, no / I don’t wanna meet your
friends / And I don’t wanna start over again / I just want my life to be the
same / Just like it used to be.”
44. “Two Sisters,” by The Kinks.
Why the “drudgery of being wed” is more rewarding than bohemian life.
45. “Taxman, Mr. Thief,” by Cheap Trick.
An anti-tax protest song: “You work hard, you went hungry / Now the taxman
is out to get you. . . . He hates you, he loves money.”
46. “Wind of Change,” by The Scorpions.
A German hard-rock group’s optimistic power ballad about the end of the Cold
War and national reunification: “The world is closing in / Did you ever
think / That we could be so close, like brothers / The future’s in the air /
I can feel it everywhere / Blowing with the wind of change.”
47. “One,” by Creed. Against racial preferences: “Society blind by
color / Why hold down one to raise another / Discrimination now on both
sides / Seeds of hate blossom further.”
48. “Why Don’t You Get a Job,” by The Offspring.
The lyrics aren’t exactly Shakespearean, but they’re refreshingly blunt and
they capture a motive force behind welfare reform.
49. “Abortion,” by Kid Rock.
A plaintive song sung by a man who confronts his unborn child’s abortion: “I
know your brothers and your sister and your mother too / Man I wish you
could see them too.”
50. “Stand By Your Man,” by Tammy Wynette.
Hillary trashed it — isn’t that enough? If you’re worried that Wynette’s
original is too country, then check out the cover version by Motцrhead.
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